This invention relates to a reminder card or bill rack of the character described. However, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to cards or bills, but has wide utility for all ranges of items which must be serially stored and referred to periodically and in time order. In particular, the remainder card or bill rack, in essence, is continuously operable from one given period to a next without requiring the shifting of the cards or the like upon the expiration of one of the give periods of time.
More particularly, various card racks or the like have been available in which sales reminder cards, time sheets, bills due, and a wide range of numerous such articles which must be sorted in a convenient disposition for reference purposes, such as the payment of bills, particularly for continuous timely reference. However, in those instances where a plurality of given periods of time, such as a plurality of months, are utilized with such a device, at the expiration of one given period of time, such as the month of May, the device had to be readjusted for the month of June by adjusting the month and then shifting all of the cards into the readjusted series of card receiving receptacles. With the present invention, a reminder card or bill rack, or the like, is provided which is continuously operable over a plurality of given periods of time without incurring the necessity of shifting cards at the expiration of one of the periods of time.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved reminder card rack, or the like.
To this end, the reminder card or bill rack includes a frame, a first vertically aligned column of card receiving pockets on the frame, a second vertically aligned column of card receiving pockets on the frame in side-by-side relationship with the first column. Of course, the specific vertical disposition may be changed to other dispositions, such as horizontal, and the specific number of columns may be increased, all within the concepts of the present invention. Between the two columns of card receiving pockets is provided indicia on the frame "assigning" the respective pockets a sub-increment of time (such as a week or specific days of a month) of a specific given period of time (such as a month) for the entire column. A generally hollow housing is provided across the top of the frame within which is mounted a pair of rollers, one for each of the two columns of pockets. Each of the rollers is independently operable and has a plurality of given periods of time seriatim about the periphery thereof (such as the 12 months of the year). The housing is opaque and has a window for each roller so as to permit visual observation of only one of the months at a time. A manually manipulatable handle or knob is disposed exteriorly of the housing on the sides thereof, the knobs being connected to the rollers to facilitate independent manual rotation thereof. In this manner, cards may be placed in the lefthand column of pockets for one month of the year (such as May) and in the righthand column of pockets for a succeeding month of the year (such as April) and the cards can be referred to and removed progressively as time passes. At the end of April, for instance, all of the cards in the righthand column will have been exhausted and the roller for that column may be manually manipulated so as to skip a month and bring the indicia "June" into view in the window for the righthand column, since May is indicated in the lefthand column. Cards may be placed in the pockets for June, and so on throughout the year without having to shift cards from one series of pockets or receptacles to another.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.